A: Mr. Smith, it’s a pleasure to talk with you as well as Chinese and foreign friends about Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu. These t

A：史密斯先生，很高兴今天能和您，还有广大中外朋友一起探讨莎士比亚和汤显祖。这两位文学家在各自的国家都享有盛誉。虽然他们彼此并不认识，但我们今天却总是把两个人放在一起比较。其中一个原因，是两人生活在同一年代，并且都在1616年逝世。
B: The pleasure is mine. Both Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu are famous dramatists and their influence has reached far beyond their national boundaries2. They have many things in common. For example, there were many works of literature and arts in their societies, and both China and England at that time had a rich cultural life.
A：是的，无论是中国明代的社会文化还是英国文艺复兴运动，都给文学家提供了很好的创作环境。莎士比亚和汤显祖的作品也有一些相似之处，比如两者都专注于人的情感和人类共同的价值观。《罗密欧与朱丽叶》还有《牡丹亭》，描写的都是青年男女的爱情故事。
B: It’s interesting to note that these two plays have totally different endings. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy while The Peony Pavilion is a comedy. This may be related to the style of Chinese and English plays and people’s preferences at that time.
A：毫无疑问的是，莎士比亚和汤显祖作品的文学价值都很高。但因为两者当时的观众群体不同，文学风格产生了一些区别。在中国明代，昆曲是当时最受欢迎的戏剧类型。昆曲的主要观众是文人和贵族，为了满足他们的需求，剧本写得非常优美典雅。但对普通民众来说，就有些难懂了。
B: Yes, and the target audience of Shakespeare’s works were people from all different fields, including the queen and the citizens. Therefore, his plays were welcomed by the whole society and were generally more well-known than those of Tang Xianzu during their times.
A：现在我们一般认为，莎士比亚的作品是英国文学的代表，而汤显祖的作品仅是中国传统戏剧文学的代表。这可能也和两者在普通民众中的受欢迎程度和影响力有关系吧。